The Scorpio Races
by Maggie Stiefvater
REVIEW POSTED ONLINE: MAY 06, 2025
Puck enters the annual Scorpio Races as a last ditch effort to get her oldest brother to stay on the island and not abandon her and their youngest brother. However, she doesn't have the coin or the courage to ride one of the wild water horses like the other riders after they killed her parents. She's the only girl to ever enter the races, but she's desperate enough to do all she can for a chance at winning and keeping her family together.
AUTHOR: Maggie Stiefvater
PUB DATE: OCT 18, 2011
GENRES: Young Adult, Magical Realism
CATEGORIES: Retelling, Orphan, Mythology
REVIEW
What I Liked:
I love stories that are very loosely based on mythology or legends, so The Scorpio Races being based on the concept of water horses, kelpies, etc. was very intriguing. It could have just been a story about a girl entering a horse race, but adding the singular magical component of the water horses served to raise the stakes and heighten the suspense.
Fair Warning:
The number of people that end up dying because of the vicious water horses took me by surprise.
Overall:
If you remember reading National Velvet when you were younger and love a bit of magic in your life, check out The Scorpio Races. I appreciated that it was a standalone book when I've been knee-deep in series lately.
Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
Heat Index: 🔥 (1/5)